


The three Investigators and the Cuegle

by Emiko1Fan



Category: The Three Investigators | Die drei ??? - Various Authors
Genre: Detectives, Gen, Mystery, Private Investigators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 17,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26559652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emiko1Fan/pseuds/Emiko1Fan
Summary: All hell is breaking loose in Rocky Beach.First ghosts suddenly appear in the new supermarket.And then an old monster from legends haunts the citizens of the cityand leaves chaos everywhere.Do the two cases belong together,or are they two different puzzles to be solved?A dangerous and sometimes life-threatening challenge for our three detectives.Will they be able to solve this case, or fail miserably?
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Die drei ??? und der Cuegle](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/687487) by Emiko-Fan. 



Chapter 1

It was once again an extremely warm day in Rocky Beach and Peter Crenshaw had been sent shopping by his mother.   
He had actually already done everything, but there was still one thing missing.   
He would probably only get fresh fish at the harbor.   
He could of course also walk to the new supermarket around the corner,  
because it was cheaper there,  
but his mother wanted to support the old stores in Rocky Beach.   
He thought so and walked towards the beach.

Arriving at the harbor he headed straight for Mr. Arthur's store.  
The store was one of the oldest fishing stores here in Rocky Beach.  
But even he had seen better times, as Peter thought.

The old wooden door creaked loudly when Peter pushed it open and immediately the smell of some rotten fish came towards him.   
Behind the dusty counter, an old man with grey hair and a slightly larger circumference smiled at him.

Peter had to giggle a little.  
Surely Jupiter would look like this later if he didn't do something about his overweight soon.  
And it had to be something better than just these useless diets!

"Oh hello Peter, nice to see you here again," said Mr. Arthur delightedly.  
"Has your mother sent you shopping again?"  
Peter nodded.  
"You know Mr. Athur, she does everything to keep the old stores open here in Rocky Beach!"  
"Yes, indeed. Your mother is a really good soul, unlike all the others who only go shopping in the new supermarket!  
Since then, my business hasn't been doing so well either. I think if it continues like this I will probably have to close the store, but there's nothing I can do about it."  
"Yes, they are not completely wrong!  
It would be a real pity if they had to close the store.  
"At least your mother would probably miss my store. But now to business, what do you need from me?"  
"Well, my mother sent me here to..."

But just at that moment a girl about 12 years old, dark blonde, freckled and with big glasses, burst in through the door.

"Grandpa, just a minute ago there was another guy in a suit asking for you.  
He said something about debts and buying our property.   
What have you done this time?"

The old man just smiled at his granddaughter's somewhat impetuous behavior.  
And Peter wondered once again if the two were really related.  
Of course he knew the answer,  
but still he was surprised every time anew.   
Because the two could not be more different in character.

In that moment her eyes slid to Peter and she became a little red.  
"Oh, you got customers, Grandpa!"

The second detective smiled.  
He actually knew the granddaughter of Mr. Arthur very well.   
Her name was Christie and she was 4 grades below him in school,   
as well as her two best friends Agatha and Meg.  
He also met them often at the beach,   
where she always hung out with her two friends.   
When they weren't holed up in the public library,  
to read her favorite crime novels.  
For him, Jupiter and Bob,  
the three girls were almost like a mini version of them,   
whereby their first one always worried,  
whether they might not become competitors at some point.   
But actually it seemed to be the case,   
that all three girls had no interest in living detective.   
Although Agatha, Christi and Meg were interested in detective stories   
and the adventures of the three Investigators,   
but nothing more,   
so Jupiter did not need to worry.

"Oh you do not need to pay any attention to me of Christi,   
Basically I am not there at all!"   
"Of course you are.   
You're standing right in front of me!   
I apologize for my erratic behavior   
and I'm going to walk out that door right now," she said quickly,   
but before she left she looked back at her grandpa.  
"Our conversation is not over yet, old man.   
I want answers and I want them...   
after dinner!"  
And with that, she had already disappeared from the door.

"And Peter, what did you have to say before my irascible granddaughter interrupted you?"  
"Uh... Oh, my mother sent me over here to pick up some of your Fish."

Mr. Arthur nodded briefly and then disappeared into the back of the store.  
A few minutes later he came back with a large package.   
Peter then paid, understanding why everyone preferred to go to the supermarket around the corner,   
thanked him and walked out the door.

He was just about to head home,  
when a man in a dark blue suit and red tie stopped him.   
He was also wearing black sunglasses and his black hair was combed back.

"Hey boy! Did you just go shopping at old Robert's?"  
Peter nodded.  
Actually he wanted to answer,   
but the man's perfume merely clouded his senses.  
He smelled far too strongly of lavender.

"What would you think if I gave you a voucher for a whole free purchase in the new supermarket,   
but you never go shopping here again!   
What do you think of my great offer?"

Peter looked at the man first irritated and then angrily.   
This silly monkey in a suit was really trying to bribe him.

"I politely decline!"  
Now the man looked irritated.  
"What?"  
"First of all, it means excuse me, and secondly, you heard me right. My answer to your offer is NO!"  
And with these words he hurried as fast as he could down the street and just left the man standing there.  
Finally he could breathe well again, without that terrible stench.  
This was the strangest and funniest shopping he had ever done, Peter thought. 

He didn't notice anymore how a little card fell out of his pocket,  
which the man in the suit picked up and looked at critically.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jupiter Jones sat with his two friends on the terrace and ate cherry cake.  
This means that his two friends had already had enough after two pieces   
and he alone shoveled the rest of the cake into himself.

"Jesus Jupiter, if you continue to eat so quickly, you're going to choke on one of the pieces," Bob admonished him with a serious expression.  
But the first detective didn't seem to care, because he didn't slow down his pace by a millisecond.

"Bob, don't say that. Haven't you ever heard that if you say something, it will turn out to be true?   
We don't want our first one to die from a piece of Aunt Mathilda's cherry pie," Peter said with an amused look at his friend.

Jupiter was just about to say something back when a scared Aunt Mathilda rushed towards them from the entrance of the junkyard.   
At the sight of her, Jupiter actually choked and Peter had to give him a good slap on the back to give him some air.

"JUPITER.  
Jupiter Jones.   
Oh Jupiter you can't imagine what I just experienced in the supermarket.   
It was so horrible.   
So terrible.   
So terribly scary!"   
Aunt Mathilda looked like she was about to collapse.   
Her hair was totally disheveled and her clothes were also very untidy and had wrinkles everywhere.

Jupiter would have loved to say something to calm down his aunt,  
but at the moment he was still busy not choking on his piece of cake.   
So Bob took it upon himself to calm the disintegrated woman somehow,   
while Peter continued to take care of their first detective.

"Mrs. Jones I am sure Jupiter would like to help you now,   
but he is just.... otherwise busy.   
But you are welcome to tell me what it is that has frightened you so much that you seem completely dissolved.   
Aunt Mathilda nodded gratefully and seemed not to notice her suffocating nephew in the background.

"All right, so it was like this.  
I went shopping like I do every morning,   
but it wasn't until I got to the store that I realized I had forgotten my wallet.   
Of course I didn't want to go back and luckily I found this shopping voucher that a nice man in a suit had given me a few weeks ago.  
So I went to get the rest of the stuff on my shopping list and was just about to go to the checkout   
when suddenly the power went out in the whole store.   
At first I found this a bit strange, but I didn't think anything more specific.   
But then it suddenly got very cold in the whole store and I heard noises coming from everywhere.   
All of a sudden an organ music started to play from somewhere.   
I got goose bumps all over my body.   
But it was not even over yet.   
No, apparently it was only just beginning!   
Because now voices from all over the place were added to the organ music   
and then...   
and then...   
then there were these...   
these white figures.   
They were dancing all over the place.   
When the lights came on again there was a mass panic and all the people ran to the door and just wanted to get out of the store   
and I had to fight my way to the door.  
After that I immediately ran here to the junkyard.  
Believe me guys, I never set foot in that store again.   
It's haunted!"

When Aunt Mathilda had finished her story, all three detectives had their mouths open.   
Bob searched in vain for words, but nothing came out of his mouth,   
Apparently Jupiter had completely forgotten in the story of his aunt that he was actually suffocating and Peter...  
Well, Peter was as white as the porcelain plates on the table.

The first detective was the first to get his bearings again and walked calmly towards his aunt.   
"I think there is a logical explanation for what you experienced in the supermarket," his aunt shook her head angrily.  
"Jupiter Jones, you stop talking to me immediately as if I were a crazy person.   
Because I am not.   
I know exactly what I saw and if you don't want to believe me,  
then go to the supermarket yourself and form your own opinion!"   
With these words Aunt Mathilda stomped into the house and slammed the door furiously.

All three detectives flinched.

Now his two colleagues finally moved again.  
"Jupiter what if something about your aunt's story is true?" Peter asked,  
who was still very pale.  
"I doubt that very much Pete."   
"And what do you think your aunt saw then Jupe?"   
Bob also asked, who seemed a little uncertain about what to believe and what not to believe.

"I don't know exactly what my aunt thinks she saw,   
but I know for sure that ghosts don't exist and we have proven that in several cases!  
But as I was listening to Aunt Mathilda just now,   
I remembered something.   
I had the feeling that I had experienced what she had said before."  
Peter looked at his friend in disbelief.  
"You... you don't mean..."  
Justus nodded.  
"But that is exactly what I mean.   
The things Aunt Mathilda experienced,  
reminded me strongly of our case "the secret of Terror Castle"."

Bob's eyes widened.  
"You mean someone used the exact same method as Stephan Terril?"  
"That's exactly what I mean Bob!  
I think we should get our own picture of the crime scene!"  
Peter shook his head vehemently.  
"Oh no Jupiter Jones!   
I will not set one foot in this building!"  
Jupiter sighed.   
Sometimes he deeply cursed the superstition of his friend.

"Peter, don't be like that.  
If someone used the same methods as Terril,   
it means that they were not real ghosts!"   
Bob had seen the look of the first detective   
and since he didn't feel like watching a fight between his two best friends,  
he quickly said something before Jupiter did.  
“We’ll just look into it and if something happens we’ll call the police right away!”

Peter sighed, but then nodded.  
"All right, we're going to watch this haunted market,  
but as soon as anything weird happens we immediately turn around and leave!"

His two colleagues nodded and they could live with it.   
But Jupiter could not resist one last little teasing.  
"If it calms your poor little mind, we can do it that way."  
"JUPITER JONES!"  
This will be a nice bike ride to the supermarket,  
Bob thought and sighed loudly,  
while he tried to simply fade out the two brawlers in the background.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It didn't take them ten minutes by bicycle to get to the supermarket,   
but Bob was so annoyed by his two colleagues that he told them that if they didn't stop fighting,  
he would quit his job as a detective.  
That had done its time and now peace had finally returned. 

Yes, sometimes you just had to take drastic measures when Jupiter Jones and Peter Crenshaw had another falling out   
and behaved like five-year-olds in kindergarten, thought Bob and had to smile.

There was a lot going on outside the store.  
A crowd had formed in front of the entrance and everything was locked with police tape.   
Ten police officers at a time apparently tried to question a lot of witnesses, but they were vastly outnumbered.  
Jupiter and Peter also looked around and seemed to have forgotten their argument for a few moments. 

Their arrival did not go unnoticed, however, because a short time later Inspector Cotta was already heading for the three detectives.  
He didn't look very happy to see the boys here.  
On the other hand, when was he ever glad to see the boys if it had anything to do with a crime scene!

"Why am I not surprised to see you here!   
You're everywhere there's trouble, aren't you?"  
"Well, Inspector, you've known us long enough to be able to answer this question for yourself.   
Besides, my aunt was in this store until about an hour ago and told us to check it out.   
What's your excuse, Inspector?" Jupiter shot back immediately.   
Probably a bit more hostile than intended, but that was probably because he had had a fight with Peter.

"What happened to you Jupiter?  
Is the great master detective having a bad day?.   
Oh heaven let everyone stop working and doing their Jobs,   
cause Jupiter Jones is in a bad mood today." 

Actually Jupiter should have expected something like that when he had snarled at the inspector,   
but somehow it still made him angry.   
But before he could say anything meaner,   
Bob stood in for him while he saw out of the corner of his eye that Peter was trying in vain not to burst out laughing.

"Well, you know our Jupe Inspector, when he doesn't come to a crime scene to solve a mystery he gets very upset.   
Bob tried a nervous laughter.  
He failed.  
"I might be able to help your first detective on this," Cotta said, now in a softer mood, and lifted the tape and told the boy to go under it.

They walked past all those people and came to the door to stand.  
"I hope you know that I'm not supposed to do this at all!   
But there is no point in stopping you anyway.   
That's why I'm allowing you access to the crime scene,  
so that you don't have to do it unauthorized with a lock pick set during a night and fog action!   
In his last words, he looked at Peter especially sharply.

He had to swallow.   
He had just been admonished by Inspector Cotta  
and in addition he would enter a supermarket which had been haunted only an hour earlier.  
No today was definitely not his day!

When they entered the building everything seemed normal at first sight.  
But if you looked closely, you could see all the sprawled food and felt the icy cold air.  
But apart from that nothing extraordinary happened.

"I suggest we split up and search the individual departments," suggested Inspector Cotta.  
The three young ones nodded.  
Peter hurried to the sports department and Justus did the same and ran to the food department.  
Bob just looked over his shoulder and then headed for the book corner.

The three Investigators and Inspector Cotta examined the whole store from top to bottom,   
but they found nothing except a few wet puddles.  
Nothing happened, to Peter's relief, that indicated any kind of spooky activity.

It was late afternoon and they still hadn't found anything when Inspector Cotta received a message on his device.

"Yes Cotta here."  
"Inspector, you won't believe this, but there were two more Ghost appearances!"  
It came from the other end.

"What are you saying?   
Two more appearances at such short intervals?   
But that is impossible!  
Where are you now?"  
"At the new designer store around the corner and the third incident was spotted at the new surf bar, by the beach.  
You have to hurry up Inspector, here at the designer store all hell is breaking loose   
and I don't even know what the colleagues at the surfbar are like!  
"It's okay, I got it.  
Hold the position until we get there Goodwin,   
that's a direct order!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

They drove through the city in a patrol car and arrived at the designer store within minutes.  
It didn't look much different from the supermarket and Inspector Cotta went straight to one of the many officers to ask him about the situation. The three Investigators stopped at the patrol car and watched the chaos around them.

"Do you really think there was another ghost here, or several?" Peter,   
who once again suspected something supernatural,   
asked behind the events in the three stores. 

But as always, Jupiter immediately disagreed.  
"But I doubt that very much second.   
Once can be coincidence,   
the second time it is already rather unnatural,  
but a third incident is definitely intentional.  
There are no ghosts at work here but definitely humans!

"How can you be so sure of your first?" Bob asked his friend curiously.  
" Haven't you noticed?"  
"What should we not have noticed, that the sublime first detective has noticed," Peter said in a sarcastic tone.

"Save your mockery second!  
If you didn't see it yourself I'll just tell you.  
In the supermarket, food was missing from the shelves.  
And I strongly suspect that ghosts, who are known to be deceased souls,  
don't necessarily take food to fill their bellies.   
I bet you that when the inspector comes right back he will tell us that some expensive clothes are missing.

His two colleagues looked at him with big eyes and even Peter had to admit that there was something to Jupiters theory.  
When the inspector came back, he actually told us something about expensive clothes that had probably been stolen during the mass panic.  
Jupiter eyed his two colleagues with a look that was as much as   
"Told you so"  
whereupon the two of them just rolled their eyes.

"Now we have only one problem,   
and you have to promise me not to investigate in this case!  
Yes, I know I have taken you everywhere now and have given you access to the crime scenes,  
but now it's over, do you understand me!”  
The boys looked like a couple of sad puppies, but then they nodded.  
The inspector said goodbye to them and turned around and ran back to the store.

"I suggest we go back to the junkyard now and tell Aunt Mathilda about what happened here."  
"And how will you please go back?" Bob asked somewhat sarcastically.  
"Well, of course with our bikes that are standing..."  
Jupiter sighed and would have loved to hit his head against a wall.  
"The bicycles that are still standing at the supermarket.  
I guess that means we have to walk back again!"

A short time later, after Jupiter had complained a lot,   
they were standing in front of the supermarket again.   
And again the three Investigators had their jaws dropped,  
when they saw the supermarket.

Although the large crowd had disappeared and there were only a few policemen left on the spot.   
But that was not the reason why the three detectives had the great disbelief written on their faces,   
but the small group of men and women who stood directly at the entrance.

These people all looked completely different,   
but all seemed to be looking for the same thing.

A somewhat broad man in a brown suit had strapped a kind of vacuum cleaner to his back and searched the entrance with it.  
Another woman had held a small beeping device in front of her,   
which looked a lot like a walkie-talkie,  
and was covered with chains all over herself, all of which showed strange symbols.   
And then there was a priest who was walking in a circle with a Bible in his hand   
and seemed to be reciting the Lord's Prayer in Latin.

"Jupe, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Bob sounded just as shocked,  
how he felt.  
"You mean a bunch of lunatics who try to be ghost hunters.  
If that's what you mean, then yes!"  
"Maybe they know what these apparitions are all about?"  
Peter said, but he also had to admit that he sounded quite ridiculous with this statement.  
Bob just shrugged and muttered something like   
"it doesn't hurt to ask"  
and ran straight for the bunch of lunatics.

He didn't pay any attention to his two colleagues at all and the first thing he did was to walk towards the man with the vacuum cleaner.  
"Excuse me, sir, but what exactly are you doing?"  
The man just looked at him bewildered as if he thought it was funny,  
that Bob apparently did not know what he was doing here.  
"Well I am trying to pick up supernatural vibrations with my device and unlike other people, my method is foolproof!”

Bob decided he had heard enough and turned around.  
He wanted to go back to his two friends, but they seemed to be busy elsewhere.  
In one corner Jupiter was arguing with the priest about whether or not ghosts existed.   
And Peter... well, Peter was hanging out with the woman with the many amulets and tried to buy one from her.  
Bob decided to collect Jupiter first,   
which turned out to be particularly difficult,   
to then pull Peter away from the strange woman.

It took again a while, Jupiter and Peter were fighting again,   
but somehow they made it to their headquarters before dark.   
At first they had been still thinking,   
whether they should tell Aunt Mathilda about the events of the day,   
but Jupiter decided that they might as well do it tomorrow.

They had just sat down to discuss how to proceed, when the phone rang.  
But nobody made any effort to get up,   
so finally Peter stood up and picked up the phone.

"Switch to volume second!" whispered Jupiter to Peter.  
"Yes hello, this is Peter Crenshaw from the three Investigators..."

At first there was only a faint rattle coming from the receiver,   
but then a deep scratchy voice sounded,  
which made the second detective solidify into a pillar of salt.

"You little creatures!  
You dirty people!  
You disturbed my sleep and now you will pay for it!  
The Cuegle does not forget!  
The Cuegle does not forgive!  
The Cuegle takes those who are naughty!  
The Cuegle destroys everything in his way!  
The Cuegle keeps an eye on you!  
The Cuegle does not like what you do  
If you are not good, the Cuegle will come and get you!"

A gruesome laugh was heard before the caller hung up and complete silence fell on the Caravan


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"What is a cuegle anyway?   
What have we done to piss him off?   
Why us and not someone else?  
Is a Cuegle even a human being, or something completely different?"  
Bob got upset as he walked excitedly in circles at headquarters.

After the caller hung up, all hell broke loose in the Caravan.

Jupiter had tried to find a logical explanation,   
that a Cuegle,   
whatever that was in his opinion,   
had called at half past twelve and threatened them. 

Bob got upset and was running in circles around the headquarters the whole time,   
while he asked any questions that nobody would answer.

Peter had lost contact with the normal world   
and just curled up in his armchair, rocking,  
clutching both legs, whispering things to calm himself.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.  
The three detectives froze into columns of salt and turned chalky pale.  
No one dared to move even a millimeter or say anything.

"Jupiter, what are you making such a noise in there?   
Your aunt and I want to sleep.   
You know how she is when she doesn't get her sleep."

Jupiter was relieved.  
It was only Uncle Titus.  
Thank God!

"It's ok Uncle Titus, we'll try to be quieter from now on."  
Apparently Uncle Titus was satisfied with that, because Jupiter heard him leave. 

"As for our case colleagues, I think we should just sleep on it and see how it looks tomorrow!"  
With these words Jupiter addressed his two colleagues.  
Bob nodded and seemed to agree with this suggestion.  
Peter, however, was still huddled in his chair and looked at the first detective in disbelief.

"How can you just go to sleep, Jupe, now that a non-human being has just declared war on us!  
"Peter, this Cuegle or that Cuegle was only talking about how we should behave well and not get in his way!  
And if you ask me, we're going to sleep like good boys.  
"Well, maybe you're right.   
I'll just go and get the blankets."

And with that, Peter stepped out of the office.  
"Jupiter, do you think this call has something to do with our current case?"  
Bob asked his friend.  
"I don't think so.  
No.   
But then the question arises:   
What did we do to wake him up?"  
Jupiter started to knead his lower lip,   
as he always did when his brain was in full activity.

At that moment Peter came back in through the door and had brought a stack of blankets and pillows.  
Each of the three took a blanket and a pillow and then lay down somewhere,  
sleep in a comfortable place in the headquarters.

Tomorrow would certainly be a better day.  
All three young people thought to themselves before they sank into the land of dreams.  
But they did not know at that time either,   
how much they were wrong.

The boys woke up the next morning and were immediately called to breakfast by Aunt Mathilda.  
They all stuffed their stomachs full after the experiences of yesterday.  
"Colleagues, since we are a bit more rested now,  
I suggest we discuss the matter now.”  
Bob and Peter just nodded a little, because neither of them really liked to remember last night.

"I suggest that I go to the library and do some research on this cuegle," said Bob, who was overcome with curiosity last night.  
"Well third, me and Peter will then go back to Inspector Cotta to check on the status of the investigation.”

Peter had remained surprisingly quiet the whole time, as Jupiter found.  
"Is that okay with you Peter?"  
Peter seemed a bit absent, but nodded.  
"Is everything okay with you second?" Bob now also asked somewhat worried.  
Normally it wasn't Peter's way of being so quiet at all.  
"Oh, it's probably nothing, but yesterday I had the feeling I'd heard that voice from Cuegle somewhere before.”  
Jupiter was now very interested.  
"Are you sure second? That could be of enormous help to us!"  
"In fact, I'm pretty sure, now that I think about it."  
"Do you think you could recognize and locate the man or woman by their voice?" 

Jupiter was very excited.  
If Peter could identify the voice of the man or woman,  
they would have solved this case in no time and could finally concentrate on the ghostly apparitions again.  
"Then I suggest that we get going right now.   
This afternoon we will meet here again and discuss what we have found out.  
Agreed?"  
"Agreed."   
It came back in unison from his colleagues,   
the three Investigators went their separate ways for this afternoon.

When Jupiter and Peter arrived in front of the police headquarters,   
they immediately realized that there were very few police officers on site.   
Also the red writing on one of the two walls was new,   
because a few people were already removing it with rags and cleaning agents.

It was even worse inside the building than outside.  
Nowhere was a single person to be seen,   
except for the somewhat older lady at the reception.  
She smiled at the two boys and nodded at them.

She knew exactly what the two young ones wanted here.   
Too often she had seen the three Investigators here at the police station.  
There was not a single policeman in Rocky Beach who had not heard of the three Investigators at least once.

Peter and Jupiter headed straight for Cotta's office.  
But then they jerked together when they heard loud screams.  
"No, I told them to call the cleaning crew.  
No, they will stay there and wait for them!  
Are you hard of hearing?  
They will stay there and that's that!"

"Well, he seems to be in a good mood.  
We don't necessarily have to ask about the investigation,  
when Cotta has expressly forbidden it, do we?  
Are you sure we want to disturb him now?" Peter whispered softly so Cotta couldn't hear them.  
"Okay maybe you're right and we shouldn't necessarily ask about the status of the investigation,   
but we can definitely tell him about our threat.”

The two boys entered the room, Cotta had turned her back on them   
and just put the phone receiver back on the table.  
When he turned around and saw the two boys, his face suddenly darkened.

"Jupiter Jones and Peter Crenshaw.   
Where did you leave your third in the bundle?"  
"Bob's at the library doing research for the school.  
Jupiter answered quickly.  
Too quickly as Cotta thought.

"Well, well, well. It gives me great pleasure to have you here."  
"Well, we had a not so pleasant phone call last night from a...  
Cuegle, or so he called himself."  
Cotta looked at both boys with big eyes.  
"Would you be good enough to repeat that?"  
"Well, we received a threat from a Cuegle."  
Said now Peter, who was a bit surprised at the inspector's behavior.

"A cuegle?!"   
"Yes, a cuegle.  
Does that mean anything to you, Inspector?"   
asked Jupiter, who had now become curious.  
"A Cuegle.  
And you are really quite sure?"  
"Yes, if we tell you so, Inspector,  
it was a spooky voice called Cuegle," Peter said.  
"Why do you ask?"

"Well it so happens that this morning someone wrote something,  
in animal blood on the wall of the police headquarters.  
In fact, just one word  
"Cuegle"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The third detective had driven his car to the Central Library in Los Angeles.  
Despite the hot midday sun, his beetle tortured itself only slowly through the traffic.

Several minutes passed before he reached the large building complex on 5th Street.   
Even more minutes passed until he found a parking space and from there into the building,  
into one of the reading rooms with computers.  
Nobody was there except him, and one man in a trench coat.

A trench coat in this heat, thought Bob.  
He must be playing detective.  
At that thought he had to giggle.

First the third detective tried to find out what they were dealing with.  
After a few minutes he came across an article about the legend of Cuegles.

"El Cuegles have dark gray skin when they come up.   
El Cuegle also grows a third eye and a third arm.  
With one eye he sees the past,   
with the other eye he sees the present   
and with the third eye on his forehead he sees the future. 

El Cuegle has the task to kidnap children and then eat them alive,   
because El Cuegle sees what the child will do bad in the future.   
But apparently El Cuegle ate not only children but also sheep,   
cows and everyone who stood in his way.  
But you can protect yourself from him,   
he can be fended off with oak and holly leaves".

So they were really dealing with a mythological monster.  
Once again.  
It would only be interesting to know at what age the cuegle still regarded his victims as children.   
He had no great desire to become one of these victims.  
Although probably this Cuegle had them already on his radar anyway,   
otherwise he wouldn't have called them at half past midnight.  
But that still didn't explain why the voice of this beast sounded familiar to Peter.

In this moment his cell phone rang loudly and Bob was startled from his thoughts.   
He got a gloomy look from the old lady at the counter before he answered it.

"Bob Andrews here."  
"Hey Bob, you got any news for us?"  
"Hey Jupe, yeah, I got news, but it's not good news."  
"Well, come on, don't keep us in suspense.  
You're almost as bad as Jupiter."

Ah! That was Peter's voice,  
probably he was driving a car.  
He wanted to follow the second detective's instructions,   
but he enjoyed this moment in which he once more knew more than their mastermind Jupiter.

"Bob. Now tell me!"  
"All right.  
But you will not be happy to hear that Peter,   
the Cuegle is in fact a monster from the Cantabrian mythology".  
"What? Kantaba what?"  
"Cantabrian folklore.   
Or for you Peter, Early Spanish mythology."  
"So our monster is originally from Spain?  
Then what's it doing here in Rocky Beach?" Peter asked.  
"Believe me, if I had found out,   
I would tell you.  
Did you find anything interesting?"

There was a brief silence on the line.  
Then he heard Jupiters voice.  
"Well, apparently we are not the only ones who have received a threat from Cuegle.   
On the outside of the police headquarters, our monster has immortalized itself on the outside wall with animal blood."  
Bob thought he heard badly.  
"Please, the monster has WHAT?"  
"He wrote his name on the outside wall in animal blood."   
said Peter, who also sounded a bit incredulous.  
"Did it do that anywhere else?"  
"Did it do what?" Peter asked  
"He means whether there were other cases in which the cuegle wrote his name on a wall.   
But I can deny that,   
as Inspector Cotta said when asked  
that the police department was the only incident.  
At least for now!"

"Did you at least ask Cotta about our ghost incident?"   
Bob tried to change the subject,   
because it seemed to him simply too absurd,  
that a monster had wrote with blood his name on some walls.

"No, we did not.  
But believe me, you wouldn't have dared, even in his mood." Jupiter sounded a bit upset.  
"But we're on our way to the beach now." Peter quickly threw in before Jupiter could get in a bad mood.  
"We want to check out the surf bar and look for clues about the ghosts."

"Okay, then I suggest we meet at the beach bar."   
said Bob and his two friends agreed with him.  
Then he hung up.

But before he wanted to leave,  
the daily newspaper still caught his eye.  
The actual newspaper did not interest him much,  
but the headline had aroused his interest.

He briefly skimmed over it,   
but then he suddenly became freezing cold.

Inspector Cotta had lied to them!

He urgently needed to talk to Jupiter and Peter.  
He ran out of the building and drove as fast as he could to the agreed meeting place.

———————————————————————————————————————  
Rocky Beach today  
———————————————————————————————————————  
A monster is making mischief in our small town   
and smears the walls of the houses of our good citizens with animal blood.  
But it does not only smear the houses but this monster,   
which calls itself Cuegle,  
also kidnaps children from the well-protected homes of their parents.  
How can we protect ourselves against such a monster  
and what are the police doing about it? 

———————————————————————————————————————  
Read more on page 23  
———————————————————————————————————————

The wind was freshening up as Jupiter and Peter headed for the surf bar.  
The beach was completely deserted,  
although it should have been full at this time.  
It looked spooky.

The police's barrier tape on the booth blew gently in the wind.  
The bar looked the same as always,  
if you ignored all the sprawled drinks and broken glasses.

"Jupe, and are you sure we're gonna find anything else here?"   
Peter asked the first detective incredulously.  
"No I'm not sure, but it's definitely worth a try!"  
Jupiter was still a bit angry,   
that they had not dared to ask Cotta.   
A real embarrassment.  
And asking Bob had also given his ego a blow.

They heard loud tires squealing and a slamming car door.  
Speaking of the devil, Jupiter thought sarcastically.  
"Jupiter, Peter!"  
Bob's voice held across the beach.  
"He walks as if the devil was after him," Peter said amused.

When Bob finally got to them, he was totally out of breath,  
he had to sit down first.  
Of course, this immediately brought him back a sneering saying from Peter.  
But Bob did not care.

"He...l...d t....o....us."  
Bob tried to say.  
"Take a little time Bob."   
tried to calm Justus Bob down.

Bob took a deep breath.  
"He has lied to us."  
"Huh? Who has lied to us?" Peter asked.   
“Cotta of course."

His two friends just looked at him like they heard wrong.  
And that's when Bob told them how he was researching the Cuegle.  
How they called him and he finally discovered the newspaper.

"And you're sure it was today's newspaper?"  
"Pretty sure!"  
"Then I'm sorry to disappoint you third.  
It can't have been today's edition."

Bob seemed a bit upset.  
"Why can't it be today's edition?”  
"Because I read today's edition and there was nothing about a Cuegle in it.   
But that leaves the question of who put the fake newspaper there."

Peter spoke softly.  
"Jupe..." 

"Not now Peter!  
So somebody has put this newspaper there,   
probably on the assumption that you would see them.  
Who else was there besides you?"

Peter tried again.  
"Bob..."

"Jesus Peter, you can't shut up for one second!  
So besides me there was only..."  
Bob suddenly felt quite stupid.  
"There was another man in a trench coat."  
"And that didn't seem suspicious to you?  
Jupiter asked indignantly.  
"Not at that time."  
Bob said sheepishly.

"Colleagues..."

Now both detectives were running out of patience.

"WHAT IS IT NOW PETER?"

At that moment they heard a dark and ugly laughter.  
They looked to the dunes at the beginning of the beach.  
There stood a being with dark grey skin.   
In addition the figure grew a third eye on his head   
and a third arm from the body.

"With one eye he sees the past,   
with the other the present   
and with the third eye on his forehead he sees the future "

Bob recalled and a cold shiver ran down his back.

"Peter and you really could not have told us sooner,   
...that up there is the Cuegle."   
Jupiter complained,   
but in his undertone there was a slight hint of fear.

"I've been trying to do that all along,   
but you wouldn't listen to me."  
Peter sounded hysterical by now,  
sour,   
but still hysterical.

The monster slowly started to move.  
But then it ran towards them faster and faster.

"What the hell do we do now?" Peter asked   
"I suggest colleagues...  
WE RUN FOR OUR LIVES NOW."

Jupiter almost yelled the last sentence.  
And with these words the three boys set themselves in motion   
and ran for their lives.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The Cuegle was close behind them and came a little closer with every step.  
Bob was running on the front line,  
while Peter pulled Jupiter behind him,  
so that he would not be caught by the monster.

He did not want to have to imagine,  
what would happen,   
if even one of them would get caught by this monster.   
Nevertheless Jupiter would probably be his first choice if he should serve the monster an appetizer.  
Hopefully it would be full afterwards and would probably spare him and Bob.

Bob kept looking at his two friends to make sure,  
that both were still there and the monster still had enough distance to them.  
He wondered what had gone wrong in their lives,   
so that now,  
once again,  
they were pursued by a mythical creature.  
It is probably due to the choice of the hobby!   
He thought sarcastically.  
But why couldn't they prefer being radio reporters?  
or play in a music band.  
That would probably be much more harmless and not so nerve-racking.

Jupiter on the other hand cursed his laziness  
and that he absolutely had to persuade Peter to stop at the café.  
But actually this monster could not be real.  
But the smell of lavender that emanated from the monster,   
just like his ugly roar,  
told him something completely different.  
But why did a monster stink of lavender?

The Cuegle roared,  
he struck at them with his three arms.  
And when Peter looked behind him in between  
he could see the glowing eyes and sharp teeth.

They ran as fast as they could.  
They ran in hooks, like gazelles.  
They ran and ran, there seemed to be no end.

Jupiter asked himself the question in a tiny part of his brain,  
how on earth they are still alive,  
when the monster could still be one step ahead,   
when it was supposedly able to look into the future with one of its oh-so-funny eyes.   
Apparently he had been able to kidnap other children with ease,  
then why was it so hard for the Cuegle with them?  
But the survival instinct of his body didn't make him think much about this more legitimate question.

But finally the roars became quieter again.  
Even the monster's steps became quieter and quieter,  
until you could hardly hear them.  
And finally it was no longer visible at all.

Nevertheless they jumped,  
as fast as they could down a rock face to hide.  
They landed in the sand,  
which was not necessarily soft either,  
but now they had to climb up the wall again,  
in case they wanted to leave again.   
But at the moment that seemed to them rather unimportant,  
because they needed air to climb back up   
and at the moment they lacked it completely.

Jupiter sank to his knees and struggled hard for breath.  
Bob had to lean on his knees as well,   
so that he did not go down like Jupiter.  
Even the sporty Peter,  
had difficulties to get his strong breathing under control again.  
Which in itself resembled a miracle.

"I... I... I think... we h... lost him."  
Brought Bob out with a few breaths.  
But Peter just shook his head.  
"I...I don't really...like it here.  
This m... monster can hide anywhere between the dunes.  
Maybe it is sneaking up on us again right now!"

Finally Jupiter also spoke up.  
"C...colleagues...I...think...it would be...good...if...  
we...would call... Inspector... Cotta...now"  
He could really only talk with difficulty and decided to do more fitness training together with Peter.

"We... give up?" Bob asked,   
the first detective in an incredulous tone of voice.  
Peter just shook his head.  
"Or not." he said,  
with determination and then looked up a bit,  
to the other side of the dune.  
"I will climb up this dune.   
From up there I can see quite a bit over the beach!"

"I... don't... think... that... is... a... good... idea... second."  
"But we have no other choice Jupiter.  
Or do you want to run another marathon across the beach  
You won't be able to do that in your current condition anyway.  
You wouldn't even make ten feet."  
"Of course...I...could...do...that!" Jupiter replied defiantly.  
"You couldn't.  
So stop playing the hero here!"  
"Says the...real one."   
Bob replied sarcastically and with a shake of the head.  
He could not believe that his two friends in this situation  
had the nerve to argue again.

"We have no choice, looking at you two."  
"Well... good. But be careful," Bob said worried.  
"I'm just as careful as you are with your glasses.  
So don't worry."   
"That's what I'm worried about!  
My glasses have been breaking all the time lately."   
Bob replied, but Peter hadn't heard him say anything.

Peter started to climb up the wall carefully.  
Small stones drilled into his palms.  
He felt the cold rock wall under his hands.  
If he would fall down now,  
he would surely fall to death.  
Well, maybe that was a bit exaggerated,  
but it would still hurt enormously.

Finally his fingertips felt the sand,  
which he had seen from above.  
He pulled himself up with difficulty.  
He slowly straightened up and expected the monster to jump at him   
but at first nothing happened.

"There's nothing to see up here." Peter shouted down to his two friends.  
Jupiter and Bob had watched their friend's climbing tour eagerly.   
Both were truly relieved,  
when he had arrived at the top unharmed   
and had pulled himself up on the edge of the rock.  
Jupiter, who in the meantime had enough air to speak again,  
just wanted to give some instructions to Peter,  
when they heard a roar from above.

"No!  
Help!  
Let me go you monster!" yelled Peter.  
"Pete?  
Peter what's going on up there?" Bob asked anxiously.  
"Peter?" Jupiter also sounded worried.  
Then they heard a scream and had to watch,  
how Peter fell down the wall.

Damn, he was hiding.  
And now he pushed me down the slope.  
I just hope I don't break anything.  
That would be stupid,  
if I had to change roles with Bob.  
I don't like to sit around at all and do nothing.  
Thought Peter before his mind began to sweep away   
and he could only hear the horrified screams from his two friends.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Peter moaned.  
Everything hurt.  
His nose itched terribly.

He remembered how he had climbed up the rock face.  
Then he had been looking for the monster   
and it had jumped right at him.  
He had still tried to defend himself,  
but in vain.  
The monster had thrown him down the rock face in a freezing cold.

Fucking Cuegle,   
with his three arms,  
three eyes and his lousy smell of lavender!  
But why did the monster smell of lavender?  
A small part of Peter's brain knew the answer,  
but first he had to really wake up.

He tried to open his eyes,  
but he succeeded only in the second time.

"I think he's coming around." he heard the voice of Inspector Cotta say.  
"Thank God!" he heard Bob's voice too.  
"Our second doesn't fall over that quickly" and there was also the voice of Jupiter.  
"Do you really think..,   
that this sentence is just appropriate,   
when he was pushed down a rock face!"   
Gave Bob annoying to think about.

Suddenly he sat up jerkily.  
The monster.  
What if the monster was still here somewhere?  
"Is he gone?  
Has that horrible thing finally gone away?"  
Peter looked around to all sides,  
but he only saw his two friends, Inspector Cotta and a lot of white.  
Am I in heaven, he wondered.

"Yes yes, it's gone."  
"You had barely reached the top of the rock,  
than the Cuegle attack you.  
We were standing at the bottom and unfortunately could not help you.  
He must have been waiting right on the other side!"  
Jupiter noted.

"You cannot imagine how scary it was.  
That arms, those eyes and that smell.  
It was just horrible!"  
Peter still got goose bumps,  
when he thought of the Cuegle.  
And then also those glowing eyes.  
He would probably sleep very badly in the near future.

Speaking of sleeping.   
Where was he actually?  
Finally Peter really looked around the room he was lying in.  
He wasn't in heaven at all,  
as he had thought at first.  
That also meant, of course, that he was not dead after all.  
Just like his two friends and Inspector Cotta.  
It was a hospital.  
He did not like hospitals very much.  
But that was not even the worst of it.  
He stared stunned at the bandage on his foot.

"Jupe, Bob, what happened to my foot?"   
he became slightly hysterical.  
Please don't, Peter thought to himself.  
"Nothing bad. It's just a little sprained."  
"It's nothing serious." Peter couldn't believe it,   
that Jupiter had just said that.  
For him a sprained foot meant the end of the world.

"Oh Peter, don't get so upset.  
You were very lucky when you fell off the edge.  
You were lying there so motionless   
and did not react to either of us properly.  
We really tried everything!  
Jupiter and I thought you had seriously hurt yourself!  
Of course you hurt yourself too,  
but not as bad as we thought at the beginning.  
With a compressed foot you will only have to walk on crutches for a week and then you will be in top shape again!”

Peter couldn't believe it and kept staring,  
on his foot stuck in the bandage.  
He simply blanked out everything around him.  
That was his end.  
He would die.  
Not immediately, of course, but knowing Jupiter as he did,  
they would continue to work on the case and when the monster came,   
he would not be able to run away from it.  
Yeah ok, maybe not necessarily the monster.  
He might as well be hit by a car,  
because he went too slowly over the traffic light.

"Have they found anything  
about the Cuegle inspector?" Jupiter asked curiously.

They already knew that it was a mythical creature.  
That it didn't shy away from bodily harm either,   
Peter was the best proof of this.  
Nevertheless he did not want to believe,  
that this really was a monster.  
Something was bothering him about the story.  
A small piece of the puzzle that did not fit into the overall picture.  
But he couldn't remember what it was.

"Cuegle, ghosts, probably the best thing to do is to contact this priest.   
Maybe he can help us."  
Bob thought he was hearing things wrong.  
"A priest?"  
"Yeah, I know how that sounds,  
but shortly after Jupiter and Peter had left  
a priest appeared with a Bible in his hand and said he knew a way to rid the city of evil.

Jupiter thoughtfully kneaded his lower lip.  
"A priest came to your office and said he knew a cure for the cuegle.   
This is perfect.  
Too perfect if you ask me.  
Did this bible of the priest by chance have a golden cross on the front   
and the sides were black on the outside?"   
"Yes, it did, but how do you know?"

Inspector Cotta looked at Jupiter like the eighth wonder of the world.  
"We know this would-be priest."  
Bob looked just like the inspector.  
"Oh do we?"  
"Think Bob.  
Don't you remember that bunch of crazies at the entrance of the supermarket.  
There was also this fake priest I had a fight with.  
He actually said that the whole town was doomed and that everyone should leave as soon as possible."

Bob slapped his flat hand against his forehead.  
"Oh, him!"  
"That's the one.  
But I don't understand how he knew about the Cuegle.  
Inspector Cotta, you confirmed that the newspaper  
that Bob found in the library,  
is a fake. But still the things,  
that are in the newspaper,  
happend exactly as it was described there."

The inspector nodded.  
"Yes indeed! Someone really has painted the walls of a few houses exactly the same,  
as at the police headquarters, were painted and three children were also abducted."  
"Can you tell us exactly which children were abducted?" Bob asked.  
The inspector took a notepad from the depths of his pocket.  
"First of all, we have Agahta Rampo,  
as second Meg Doyle   
and finally Christie Athur."

Jupiter and Bob were making big eyes.  
"But that's..."  
"Our up-and-coming competitors."  
Jupiter finished Bob's sentence with disbelief.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The three young ones stood in front of a store at the harbor.  
Or as Peter liked to say in the meantime,  
two and a half young.

He still could not cope with the fact that from now on,  
even if it was only a week,  
had to walk on crutches.

He who never injured himself while doing sports, injured himself,  
once again,  
in his detective work.  
People used to say,  
Sport is murder,  
but it is probably more likely,  
Detective work is murder.

They entered the store.  
The door had not even been locked.  
She creaked and squeaked loudly, so they were afraid she would just fall off her hinges.

Peter immediately had to think about his purchase a few days ago.  
A lot had changed since then.  
But apparently the store had changed too.

There were dead fish and other sea creatures everywhere that had been tipped out of their buckets or thrown on the floor.  
The curtains on the windows had probably been slit with a knife, as had the upholstery of the chairs,  
which were distributed throughout the room.   
The counter lay tipped over in a corner of the room. The door leading to the storage room,  
was the only one locked.

"What does it look like in here? Was there a Break-in?" Bob sounded completely flabbergasted.  
"I think it's likely that the break-in was recent."   
Jupiter said soberly.   
Suddenly they heard a noise from the back door.  
"Do you think the burglar is still here?"   
Peter sounded more scared than he wanted.  
"We'll soon find out," Jupiter said.   
and went towards the door and then ripped it open with a jerk.

There behind the door lay old Mr. Arthur, tied up like a parcel and gagged.  
"Wait a minute Mr. Arthur, we'll help you."   
Bob tried to calm the old man down.  
When he was finally released, he looked around in panic.

"The Intruder...."  
"What about the Intruder?" Peter asked.  
They heard a noise from upstairs.  
"He is still here! Come on Bob we're going up the stairs.   
He must be upstairs somewhere.  
Peter you stay here and look after Mr. Arthur."  
Peter nodded resignedly and before he could say anything back,  
Jupiter and Bob hurried up the stairs as fast as they could.

A cold feeling was spreading in him.  
He did not like this feeling.  
He felt useless.  
He quickly ignored it.

Peter pondered for a moment and then turned to the old man next to him.  
"Mr. Arthur, is there a back way out of here or something like that?"  
The old man nodded and then pointed to a door behind him.  
"That's the way out into a field."  
Peter hurried to the door with his crutches and pushed it open.

From above he heard a jingling sound and then saw a figure in a trench coat jump out of the window.   
The figure landed right in front of his feet.  
He reacted instantly and threw himself on the figure.  
A familiar smell rose into his nose.  
The figure resisted, however, and kicked him with its foot directly into his stomach.  
He let go of the figure at once and gasped for air and he felt a little nauseous.   
It became also shortly black before his eyes,  
but in the next moment he could clearly see again how the figure picked itself up   
and ran towards a brown wagon right at the end of the meadow.

Jupiter and Bob ran past him in pursuit of the figure.  
He cursed his stupid foot and looked around for something,  
what he could throw.   
His gaze remained fixed on his crutches.  
As fast as he could, he tore off one of the rubber feet on one of his crutches.  
He now took it in his hand.  
"Jupiter, Bob throw yourself on the floor.   
Now!"  
he shouted across the meadow to his two friends,  
while he aimed and then threw the functionarie spear.

I must really be completely crazy,   
he thought as he watched the spear bore into one of the corners of the trench coat.  
The figure in the trench coat was stuck!  
He cheered inwardly and would have loved to perform a dance of joy.  
But unfortunately his joy was short-lived,   
because the figure pulled on her coat so much that she broke away and got into the car and drove away.

Jupiter and Bob came back to him.  
"I remembered the license plate number.  
I'll call Inspector Cotta from Mr. Arthur's phone!" Jupiter just said   
and Bob nodded.  
Bob held his one crutch in his hand.  
"Is there really a single sport you're not good at?"  
Bob asked sarcastically, whereupon Peter just returned a grin.  
"I don't think so."  
With these words he accepted his crutch.

The torn off piece of cloth hanging from his crutch fell.  
He took it off and looked at it.  
It was made of a cheap fabric and on the inside were checks sewn in.  
It also smelled funny.  
Peter sniffed the piece of cloth,  
which earned him a few strange looks from his friends.  
The fabric smelled like lavender.  
Just like the monster.  
Just like the...

"Peter, what are you doing?”  
Jupiters voice ripped him from his thoughts.  
"This is the torn piece of cloth from our unknown." he replied.  
"Let me see it." Peter handed Bob the piece of cloth.  
"It's exactly the same pattern,  
like the guy in the library," Bob shouted in surprise.  
"And you only noticed that now?" cried Peter now.

Jupiter kneaded his lower lip again.  
"Let us summarize briefly.  
First, ghosts supposedly appear,  
in new stores,  
in Rocky Beach, which at the same time steal things from the stores.

Shortly afterwards we get a call from the Cuegle,   
this threatens us not to interfere with anything.  
Bob then discovers a man in a trench coat,   
which is also probably a false newspaper article,  
but with all things written that really happened,  
deposited so that Bob can see it.   
Thereupon we are attacked on the beach and Peter gets hurt.

We know that Mr. Arthur's granddaughter and her two friends were abducted by the Cuegle for some reason.  
Probably they found out something they shouldn't know.  
And Mr. Arthur is attacked shortly thereafter,  
by the same man who also sent us the newspaper.  
He must have been looking for something here.  
The question is, did he find it?"

At that moment, a woman stormed through the door   
and pointed a pistol at the three Investigators.  
"Don't move, you thieves.  
Hands up!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The woman had said hands up,   
when she had come through the door.  
Jupiter and Bob had also immediately put their hands up,  
only Peter could not really do it.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."   
Peter said in an amused and annoyed tone.  
The woman looked confused at first, but then she nodded.  
"Then sit down on the floor,  
put your hands up there  
and before you do, push your crutches as far away from you as you can."  
Peter followed the woman's instructions,  
without ifs and buts,   
after all, he did not want to end up like a Swiss cheese.

Then he felt that stupid feeling again,  
what he had tried to ignore before.  
It did not help to ignore it.  
This time he was helplessly exposed to the bad feeling.  
He was useless, Peter thought to himself.

"I think there is a big misunderstanding here," Jupiter began.  
"I do not think so.   
You are the ones that have broken into Mr. Arthur's house."  
"That's just not who we are.   
We were trying to catch the intruder,   
but he got away from us."  
Bob was getting a little bit angry.

"Look at this,   
you are from the police   
and there was reported 'a' intruder,  
not three.   
Besides we know Inspector Cotta,   
if you don't believe us,  
why don't you call him," Jupiter said a bit more energetically.

At that moment Mr. Arthur rushed out the door and immediately grasped the situation.  
"But no, you got the wrong guys."  
"So these are not your intruders?" asked the policewoman.  
"That's what we've been trying to tell you all along!"  
Peter was annoyed again,   
he was tired of sitting on the dirty floor.

"Of course these are not the burglars, these are the guys who helped me!  
So they put your damn gun down,  
before you shoot someone.  
Now that that's settled, I'll leave you two alone for a moment.  
I really need to go clean the place up!"  
With these words the old man simply disappeared through the door, into his store.

The police woman nodded and put her service weapon back in her holster.  
She picked up Peter's crutches and gave them to him.  
"Excuse me boys,   
I am Detective Summer and I am new to the police force.  
And who are you people?"  
"We are the three Investigators!" Jupiter said proudly.  
The woman looked incredulous.  
"YOU are the famous three Investigators?  
But you are still... well... so young!"

The three Investigators nodded.  
How often had their age led to rash decisions by their counterpart.  
On the other hand, it was not entirely impractical.  
But after a certain point it just got on their nerves.

"Yes we are still minors,   
but our success has nothing to do with our age!"   
Jupiter returned snippily.  
He was just about to make another remark about the young policewoman,  
as a smell rose into his nose.

"Tell me, are you wearing perfume?"  
The policewoman just looked at him in astonishment.  
When Peter and Bob started sniffing the air,  
she looked like she thought,  
that the three boys before her would have lost their minds.

"Right now that you say it, she smells like lavender.  
Quite strong, even!" said Peter.  
"Is that a crime?" the policewoman slowly became nervous.  
"You must know we met someone with this scent a few days ago   
and we thought that it would make the perfect gift for Jupiters aunt."  
Bob tried to calm her down with a little lie.

"Oh well, in that case.  
Well, the scent is actually from a perfume,  
even from a very special one.  
This perfume is a limited edition   
and there are only 10 of these perfumes in all of Rocky Beach.  
As far as I know I got the very last one,   
the other one was stolen a few days ago during this weird operation with ghosts.  
So yes, it's very special."  
said the policewoman proudly.

That's when the three young ones looked like,  
as if the policewoman had just announced the end of the world.  
"10 bottles." began Jupiter.  
"spread throughout Rocky Beach." Peter sounded really beat.  
"And our suspect is one of 10 people in all of Rocky Beach."  
Bob also sounded like he was finally at the end of his rope.

"You can call the inspector and ask,   
if you can have a sales list of all bottles".  
The boys' faces brightened up in one fell swoop.  
"But of course why didn't we think of that before!"  
said Jupiter and for once felt a little dumbstruck.  
"Well I have to say goodbye again,  
I wish you good luck in your search for the culprit and maybe you will finally find him now.  
Said Detective Summer and waved the boy goodbye,  
before heading for the parking lot on the opposite side.

But the boys have not paid attention to them for a long time,  
but had immediately crashed into the store on the phone.  
Jupiter was dialing the number of Inspector Cotta.  
"Put it on speaker, we want to listen in," Peter said quickly,  
the voice of Inspector Cotta already resounded 

"Yes, Inspector Cotta here."  
"Hello Inspector we have a few questions you might be able to help us with" Jupiter replied quickly.  
"I hope this has nothing to do with the supermarket ghosts,  
or the abduction of the three girls.   
I told you to stay out of it."  
"No, it's something else entirely." Bob tried to calm the inspector down.  
"Well, I have nothing better to do right now anyway.   
So go ahead,   
but also really only a few questions."  
"Okay, first of all, I have a license plate here,   
if you could tell us the name of the owner we would really be helped.  
"I'll see what I can do."  
"The license plate number is 5CSN999," Justus quoted from memory.  
"Okay, I've entered it into the computer, it will take a while.  
Meanwhile, ask me your next question."  
"Okay, next, could you please give me the names  
for a rare perfume with lavender scent".

It took a while, but eventually they all had names of the 9 people,  
who had bought a bottle.   
Of course with the exception of the bottle that was stolen.  
Jupiter frowned.  
The name of Detective Summer was not on it.  
But she had told them,   
that she had bought the last bottle

"Excuse me, Inspector, but Detective Summer's name   
is not on the list."   
Jupiter had gotten a bad suspicion.  
"Which Detective Summer?  
There is no Detective Summer at all."

Meanwhile, Peter and Bob had also realized  
"But you have send a policewoman named Summers to Mr. Arthur,  
because of the burglary," Peter asked cautiously.  
"No, I did not.  
The two policemen I sent are stuck in traffic!  
What are you doing at Mr. Arthur's anyway?  
Have you three been up to something again?"

The three young men looked at each other guiltily.  
"No, we got into this somehow.  
and were only trying to help Mr. Arthur." Peter complained.  
On the other end of the line a new voice could be heard  
and some whispering.

"So you just happened to get into it by accident.  
Can you please explain to me,  
why then you asked me for the plate number of your arch-enemy!"  
"I don't understand, sir?" Jupiter was confused.  
"The mark you gave me,  
belongs to none other than Skinny Norris!

"WHAT?" the three Investigators cried in horror.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"And what are we doing here now?" Peter asked   
and looked at his two friends from the back seat.

They were sitting in bobs car,  
a little away from the big house of the Norris family.  
It was located in one of the richer neighborhoods of Rocky Beach   
and now towered before the three boys in all its white splendor.

"At the moment all I see is Skinny's car in the driveway,  
so I'm going to assume that,   
his parents, as so often, are not there," replied Jupiter,  
to the question of the second detective.  
"Do we really have to go and question Skinny now?"  
Peter complained,   
who had no desire at all to meet their arch-enemy.  
"Yes we absolutely have to talk to Skinny,  
but maybe you'll be lucky and we won't have to do it at his home.   
Look over there he comes running."   
Bob pointed to the opposite side of the street.

They got out of the car and crossed the street.  
When Skinny saw them, he cursed softly.  
"If it isn't Jupiter Baby Fatso Jones   
and of course the shadows that never leave his side,   
Peter the Crybaby Crenshaw and Mr. Boring Bob Andrews."

"And that's where we got all the great lines.  
from our pale skinny nerve bundle.  
I really missed them.   
But think of some new ones,   
the old ones are getting boring."   
Peter replied directly.

Skinny just rolled his eyes.  
"What do you professional snoopers want from me?"  
"Nice trench coat you're wearing.  
Is a small corner missing on the left side by any chance?" Bob countered.  
"I don't see how that concerns you.  
But tell me Crenshaw, what have you done to your foot?  
Did you trip over your own stupidity or what?"  
Skinny countered with a gloating grin.

"Wouldn't know what that's got to do with you Skinny," Peter said.  
"Tush." replied Skinny.  
"What are you saying?" Bob asked and frowned,  
while Peter just grinned.  
"Did you catch a sudden cold or what?"   
"By 'tush' do you mean touché?" Jupiter asked incredulously.  
Because although he thought Skinny wasn’t the brightest light on the candle,   
he actually didn't think he was that stupid,  
than he would say something like that.  
"Whatever Master Detective Jones."

Jupiter grew impatient and it annoyed him deeply,  
that Skinny was still so calm.  
"So Skinny we can now do this in two ways.  
First, we're going to call our good old friend Inspector Cotta,  
he will come and pick you up in a patrol car   
and interrogate you at police headquarters.  
Or two, you tell us what's up with this whole monster thing  
and after that we just leave and leave you alone.  
For now.  
It's your choice."  
Jupiter looked into Skinny's eyes with a ice cold stare,  
without even batting an eyelid.

Skinny gave in.  
"I don't know what kind of monster you mean.   
I really have no idea.  
For shadowing Andrews in the library  
and put this newspaper on his desk,  
that's what I was hired for.  
And to look for something with old Arthur, that's what I was paid for.  
But I didn't break into old Arthur's,   
you have to believe me.  
Scout's honor."

Bob rolled his eyes.  
"You were never in the Boy Scouts.”  
Peter said sarcastically.  
"Can you at least tell us what your employer looked like,  
or what exactly you should be looking for at Mr. Arthur's house?" Jupiter asked.  
"So this client was some blonde chick  
called himself Summers or something like that.  
I think she said her job was in the movies or something.  
And she had me look by old Arthur for a blueprint,  
that little Christie stole from somewhere."

Jupiter frowned.  
"A blueprint?"  
"Yes. Of some tunnel system near a park or something.  
I think she had said something,  
of a failed bank robbery,  
She also mentioned you three.  
And she said there's something going on at the old airfield tonight.  
But that's all I really know."  
"Well, we'll take your word for it," Bob said.  
All three ran back to the car,   
but Peter turned around once more.  
"Remember Skinny, in case you forgot to tell us something important,  
don't worry, our friend the inspector always likes to visit!”

When they were all together again in the car   
they discussed what their next step would be.  
"I think we should go to the airport tonight.  
Isn't there still that old control tower?" Jupiter asked.  
"Yes the old control tower is still there.   
It has been cleared out in the meantime," Bob replied abruptly.  
"I was there the other day with Jeffrey.  
In case our headquarters is destroyed one day,  
we could set up there.  
In any case better than if we lived in a lighthouse.  
That would be much too wet for me,  
the old control tower is a really good choice.  
Almost like our old coffeepot, only bigger," said Peter,  
glad that he could finally contribute something helpful to the case.

"You talk as if you can't wait,  
to get away from our headquarters." Bob laughed.  
"Don't get me wrong,   
our headquarters is the best hiding place we could find at 11,  
but we were just 11 at the time.  
I have stopped counting in the meantime,  
how often our headquarters have been broken into." Peter defended himself,  
and ignored the icy feeling,  
that came out in him again.

Justus was about to start a snappy counter-answer,  
when his phone rang.  
"Yes Jupiter Jones of the three Investigators here."  
"Hello Jupiter, Inspector Cotta here.  
You asked me to call you if there was any news."  
Jupiter nodded until he remembered that the Inspector couldn't see them.  
So he briefly affirmed.

"In fact, a few things have happened since our last phone call.  
First of all, there have been a few new attacks from Cuegle.  
He has painted a few more houses,   
whereby he apparently slowly runs out of animal blood,  
because this time he used red paint.  
But now comes the big scoop.  
The three abducted girls have all reappeared unharmed.  
Apparently they just appeared out of nowhere in front of their parents' doorstep,   
but they refuse to give any testimony.  
They just keep repeating,   
that they were not abducted at all,  
but only hid from the evil monster.  
They claim the Cuegle was chasing them,  
whereupon all three hid in the Doyle family's cottage."

The three boys were really amazed.  
So the girls had really not been kidnapped,  
but someone had intimidated them so much,  
that they had simply hidden themselves.

"Thanks for your help, Inspector."   
"In return, I want to know  
what Skinny Norris has to do with this whole thing." demanded the inspector.  
"Nothing.  
He was only given money to intimidate us a little,  
but otherwise he doesn't know anything.  
But then we have to go,  
we want to make a small campfire at the old airfield tonight and have to get some things.  
See you then, Inspector."  
And before Inspector Cotta could say anything else   
Jupiter had already hung up again.  
"Do you really think it is wise to simply lie to the inspector?" Peter asked.  
"What he doesn't know won't hurt him.  
And now we really have to get going.  
I have the feeling,  
that we have a long and eventful night ahead of us today."   
replied Jupiter nonchalantly,  
whereupon Peter and Bob only groaned.

When Jupiter is in a good mood,   
because of a case,  
that was never a good sign.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The old control tower was empty.  
And by empty I mean really empty.  
All objects that were not rivets and nails,  
had been stolen over time or have been, from their original owners  
simply taken along.  
The window panes were only partially intact  
and especially on the front side they were completely missing.  
Also the control panels were all gone   
and instead of them there were just a few old wooden boxes standing around.  
But at least there were enough sleeping places for the three young ones.

They had to go through a heavy steel door at the bottom,  
to be able to go up an iron staircase.  
For Peter it was pure horror and Jupiter and Bob had to help him a lot,  
more than he actually wanted.

Then he immediately got that feeling again of being useless and helpless.  
Maybe he was just a ball and chain to his two friends,  
he thought to himself in secret.

Finally they reached the top and unpacked their backpacks.  
According to Peter, Jupiter had taken almost all their equipment with him,  
as heavy as his backpack was.  
On top of the backpack layers of some equipment,  
among other things the old night vision device and their faithful homing device.  
But apparently Peter had been wrong,  
because after he had taken out the few devices  
a lot of sweets and other snacks appeared.

"Jupiter Jones, you're not serious, are you?" Peter asked in horror.  
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Jupiter countered,   
who already knew why the moaning of the second detective.  
"Stop your bitching already girls ,   
we still have a long night ahead of us," Bob reminded them again   
and immediately defused the situation.

"What exactly are we looking for, Jupe?" Bob asked.  
"I don't know exactly what we're looking for either, Bob.  
But you heard skinny,  
Something is supposed to happen here tonight," explained Jupiter.  
"Since when do we listen to Skinny Norris  
What if he is in cahoots with the Cuegle,  
as in the case of Sheila Masters," Peter replied annoyed.  
"Don't remind me.  
It was an embarrassment beyond compare," said Bob with a grimace,  
while he remembered the case.

At that moment something or someone knocked violently against the door downstairs.  
The boys froze into pillars of salt.  
Actually, nobody knew,   
that they were here.  
So who was banging on the door down there?

"Jupiter, Peter, Bob, it's Christie Arthur.  
Let me in.  
I have something I have to tell you." said the voice from outside  
"Christie?" the boys called out in surprise.  
"I'll just open the door for her,  
it's dangerous out there in the dark," Bob said quickly and climbed down the stairs as fast as he could,  
to open the steel door.

After a short while he came up the stairs again with the girl.  
"Hi Christie, what are you doing here and why do you want to see us so badly?"   
Jupiter asked the girl directly.  
"I have something urgent to tell you as I said and it can't wait," the girl replied quickly and sounded like this,  
as if she was about to burst into tears.  
"Why don't you sit down first, you're out of breath."   
Peter tried to calm the girl down.  
She sat down on one of the old wooden boxes   
and began to talk in a fragile voice.

"I heard about the attack on you from this... this monster.  
E... I am so sorry... so very sorry Peter,   
that you were hurt."   
"Well, I survived, as you can see."   
the second detective calmly replied,  
although he did not feel that way at all.  
But it was exactly what the girl seemed to need at the moment,  
because she calmed down again a little bit.

"But it's so terrible."   
The girl's fear was immediately restored.  
"But it's not your fault, Christie."   
Bob tried to calm her down too.  
Justus just looked at the girl silently and kneaded his lower lip.  
He had a suspicion.

"Bob.   
But I can help it,  
that's the bad thing, I can do something about it that you were attacked.  
And not only me, but the other two as well!"   
the girl had started to cry.  
"What other two?" Peter asked.  
"You mean Agatha and Meg, right?"  
Finally Jupiter had said something too.  
The girl just nodded.  
"But why are the three of you responsible  
that some lunatic in a monster costume attacked us?  
What do you mean?"  
Bob tried to talk to the girl. 

"I am one of the spirits."  
"What? You're a ghost?" Peter asked, completely confused.  
"I-I-I can't keep it to myself anymore.  
Besides, we agreed to tell you."  
"I think I'm beginning to understand," Jupiter said.

"You know that the old business in Rocky Beach is not doing so well anymore,  
because the new ones take over all customers.  
Especially Grandpa has been hit hard.  
That's why I really wanted to help him.  
And not only him, we wanted to help everyone.  
Agatha and Meg were of the same opinion as me.  
We wanted the customers to turn away from the new stores   
and shop again in the old stores."   
brought the girl out in a fragile voice.

"And that's why you were playing ghosts," Jupiter added.  
In his head, one piece of the puzzle just fit into another.

"Yes, exactly.   
I Agatha and Meg dressed us up and went to the stores.  
But then this real monster appeared   
and really scared us.  
It's probably our fault that the monster showed up.  
We lured him here with our spook."  
The girl cried again.

"I doubt that very much.  
Someone jumped on your train,   
who now thought it was a good time to do harm himself.  
You are not really to blame at all."  
Jupiter tried to make the girl understand  
so it could get rid of its feelings of guilt.

"And how did you manage to get all these effects?   
I mean, you couldn't possibly have done it alone," Bob said.   
"Yes, we had someone else who helped us."  
"Who?" asked Jupiter forcefully.

"Skinny Norris."

"You gotta be kidding me." Bob moaned.  
"He lied, I knew it!  
I told you from the start.  
"But you wouldn't listen to me again!" Peter got excited.  
Jupiter replied, only annoyed.  
"Yes, it's okay Peter.  
You were right about Skinny.   
And we should have listened to you.  
Satisfied?"

Peter nodded with a big grin.  
Jupiter didn't know why yet,  
but he would find out later.

"So Skinny helped you, and so what?" Jupiter followed up.  
"Well, at first everything went fine,   
until I found a building plan with him.  
Skinny had hidden it pretty well and that had to mean   
that he was important.  
So I took him with me, as a reassurance to the skinny and not to the police.  
"Did you bring the plan?   
Can we have a look at it?" Peter asked carefully.  
The girl nodded and took out a folded piece of blueprint.  
She handed it to Jupiter, who in turn unfolded it and looked at it carefully.  
"This looks like a sketch of Palisades Park,  
but I can't see more on it at the moment.  
But thank you Christie for telling us everything."  
And with that, he gave the girl back the piece of paper,  
which she then plugged in.  
The girl just nodded again.  
"Glad I could help you so well,  
but I have to go home now." 

She was about to go down the stairs when Bob held her by the shoulder for a moment.  
"Hold on.   
"It's dangerous for you to go out there alone.  
I suggest that,  
two of us will go with you and one will stay here."  
Jupiter nodded, but Peter made a grimace 

"I will not set one foot outside this door again,   
if there is a possibility that there is still this maniac running around in costume.  
Besides, I don't want to have to torture myself down the stairs again."  
He started to argue.  
Jupiter was just delighted with the statement of his friend.

"With pleasure, Peter," beamed Jupiter.  
"That you volunteer,   
to be left alone here in the lighthouse,  
I never, ever, ever thought you could do it!"   
Peter just stared at him speechlessly.  
He would be alone in the lighthouse.  
Completely useless and helpless.  
It lasted a short while,  
before Peter brought out just one sentence.

"This can never, ever work out."

How right he should be,  
he did not know at that time.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The two boys walked the old stairs together   
with the girl down.  
Bob laboriously pushed the old steel door open,   
which was a bit rusty.  
After everyone stood outside he closed it again.

"It's pitch-black out here.  
You can hardly see your hand in front of your eyes," Bob said.   
and waved his hand around in the dark.  
"We have a new moon, what do you expect?" Jupiter said  
and just shrugged his shoulders.

They had not even reached the end of the square,  
then they heard a sound.  
It sounded as if someone had accidentally stepped on a branch.  
Christie flinched.  
"What was that?" she asked in a frightened voice   
"I have no idea,  
but we should definitely hurry," Bob replied.

Suddenly they saw a large shadow in front of them.  
Three eyes glowed in the dark and scared the hell out of them.  
"There!  
Bob, Jupiter, that's the monster."  
The Cuegle roared loudly.  
Then he ran towards them.  
The three of them started screaming in terror.

"Let's go back to the control tower before the monster catches us!"   
Jupiter ordered and ran away.  
"I thought that wasn't a real monster,  
but only a madman in disguise." Bob returned sarcastically.  
"You can still take a lunatic to the same level,  
like a monster, my dear Bob," replied Jupiter.

Then Bob took Christie by the hand and pulled her after him and Jupiter.  
She seemed to have fallen into a kind of shocked state,  
because she did not move by herself.  
Jupiter turned around and reassured himself,  
that there was some distance between them and the monster.  
But unfortunately there was no distance.

The Cuegle grabbed Christie by her backpack.  
Christie screamed and resisted.  
Bob tried to help her.  
Christie's backpack ripped in half and several things felt out,  
among other things a piece of paper.  
Bob pulled them in to the control tower,   
where Jupiter was already hammering vehemently against the door and calling for Peter.

"Bob I have to go back!" shouted the girl  
and tried to free himself from Bob's iron grip.  
"Are you insane?" he shouted to her.  
"But the monster has my backpack!"   
"What difference does it make?"  
"You don't understand.  
The backpack contains the blueprints."  
"Then it's half of this stupid plan,  
and with these words he finally pulled her to the steel door.

"Peter open immediately," cried Jupiter,   
who could still see the monster from the viewpoint.  
It ran towards them.  
"Peter fucking open the door," Bob now yelled.  
It took them a while to hear the scraping of metal on metal.  
Then the door was laboriously opened by the second detective.

"What's all this screaming about?  
I'm just not that fast with my...."   
but the words stuck in Peter's throat when he saw the Cuegle,  
who was still running towards them.  
"Damn it!   
Can't we get rid of him sometime  
I still have a working foot  
and I'd like to keep it too!"

Jupiter, Bob and Christie stormed past Peter and into the interior.  
The second detective tried to close the door with difficulty.  
"Peter hurry up, he's almost here!" Christie yelled,  
who had huddled in a corner, totally frightened.  
But it did not help.  
Peter braced himself against the door as best he could,  
but she did not move a piece.  
To make matters worse, he now fell to the floor  
and a stabbing pain shot through his leg.

Now everything was over!  
He had only had one task.  
An easy task.  
And he had failed.  
He was useless.

"Peter, step aside." cried Bob.  
Peter obeyed, grimaced in pain...   
and crawled on the floor to the side.  
Bob and Jupiter took a running start.  
"One."  
"Two."  
"Three."   
On three, they ran as fast as they could toward the door and threw themselves against it.

In the last one the door fell into its hinge and you could hear the angry snorting of the cuegel from outside.  
But the four teenagers wasted no time paying attention to it.  
Christie ran up the stairs as fast as she could,  
whereby she slipped twice on the smooth stairs.  
Jupiter and Bob support Peter on both sides  
and three of them limped up the stairs.  
At the top they barricaded themselves in and waited.

"Do you think the door will hold up against this monster?" Peter asked the group.  
"If I may remind you, secondly we had agreed on that,  
that this is a human and not a monster."   
Said Jupiter.  
"When did we agree on this," Peter replied stunned.  
"And even if this is not a monster Jupe,  
a maniac in a monster costume is still fucking dangerous."  
"This is all my fault.  
What if we all get taken by that thing now?  
Then it's my fault!  
I don't want that.  
I should never have taken this stupid blueprint."   
Christie started crying again.

Bob and Peter only gave the girl a pitiful look.  
They could understand her all too well.  
How many times had they been in similar situations before.  
It had become normal for them to be in such a situation,  
but for the poor girl it was not at all.  
She was so infinitely afraid and they could understand it really well.

"Hey, it's okay, Christie. Calm down."  
"It's not your fault at all!"  
Bob and Peter tried to talk to her.  
"In the end, she was right." Jupiter spoke up.  
And Christie cried even harder.  
and he got two angry looks from Peter and Bob.

"Okay, maybe I misspoke.  
What I mean by that is,   
that someone knew   
that you would come to us for the blueprint.  
And that someone just had to wait until you came to us.  
So he followed you and wanted to take the plan from you anyway.  
You led him to us,   
but unconsciously."

Christie stopped crying.  
She thought.  
From the way she looked just now, she looked eerily like Jupiter,  
found Peter and Bob.

"Skinny Norris.  
I bet he is the one.  
Maybe he's not playing the monster,  
but he's kind of involved," Christie said.  
Jupiter smiled,  
he had managed to get the younger girl to change her mind.

"Maybe we should talk to him again when we get out of here,  
what do you think?"  
Said Jupiter and Peter and Bob nodded.  
"I think the monster's gone for the moment," said Peter.

They listened for a moment but could not hear anything.  
"I'll have a quick look," Bob said and ran down the stairs.  
"Be careful though,   
that monster has so his tendency to appear suddenly before you  
...and shove you down somewhere." Peter shouted after him.  
"Where is he going to push me down here?" Bob replied and laughed.

They waited.  
After a short while, Bob called and said that the coast was clear.  
When he came back up, he had Christie's backpack in his hand.  
"My backpack," the girl happily took it from the third detective's hand and searched it.  
"Unfortunately, the blueprint is gone,   
but the rest is still there."  
"This confirms our suspicions.  
The monster was only after the plan  
the question is only why," Bob said thoughtfully 

"We can find out later.  
I'm going to call Inspector Cotta and then we'll take you home Christie and we'll go to the head office afterwards.  
I'm sure you can stay at my place again,   
I'm sure the sleeping things are still at the headquarters.   
Jupiter replied.

Everyone nodded and made their way downstairs,  
whereby Peter had it once again the hardest   
and was dependent on the help of his friends. 

At least it is over for the time being  
and the monster won't bother us any more so quickly,  
now that it has the plan.  
We just have to find out what the plan is for!

After surviving Inspector Cotta's formidable display,  
and he promised to send a couple of patrol cars by and they headed off to Rocky Beach.  
They dropped Christie off at home and then made themselves comfortable at headquarters  
and then fell dead tired and fell asleep directly.

Unfortunately Jupiter would not be right.  
The monster would strike again   
and the result would be shown the three detectives   
personally in the morning.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The next morning the three boys were startled from their sleep,   
when they heard a shrill scream across the courtyard halls.  
Jupiter and Bob immediately started moving  
and wanted to hurry out the door,   
but it could not be opened.   
No matter how hard they tried,   
the door simply did not open.  
Peter meanwhile got a little panic,   
because how would he get out,  
when the door was locked.

"Why won't this damn door open?"   
Peter sounded slightly hysterical.

Oh, no, that feeling came back.  
He ignored it,  
they had more important things to do now!

"Something seems to be blocking them!   
Let's take tunnel two out."  
Jupiter asked his colleagues   
and opened a hatch,   
which was embedded in the floor of the control center.   
Peter had trouble getting down the hatch,  
but with the help of Jupiter and Bob it worked.  
They had to make themselves a little thin,   
even Bob who was in himself a little bit smaller than his two friends,   
but after a few minutes they hurried through the gate at the entrance back to the scrap yard.

The first thing Jupiter saw was Aunt Mathilda sitting on the ground,  
with one hand in front of the mouth and eyes wide with terror.   
Uncle Titus stood beside her,  
who had put on a similar facial expression.  
As he and his friends got closer,  
they also knew why.

Someone had nailed the door to the headquarters with boards that night   
and on the outside walls of the caravan something with red paint,   
no probably animal blood,   
written

♥︎  
In addition, he had put a dead sheep in front of the caravan.  
It looked at you from cold eyes.  
The pupil was almost only as big as a little finger.  
Blood was all over the floor,  
but the largest puddle had formed directly around the sheep's neck.  
The sheep's throat had been slit.  
♥︎

" You have angered the cuegle and now you feel his wrath "

The author had apparently felt particularly funny,  
because the whole thing was signed with

" the three soon to be corpses "

"Oh no!  
Tell me this is just a nightmare!  
I thought we finally got rid of him,  
after he got the plan!"  
Peter looked like he was about to burst into tears,  
suddenly he felt terribly sick  
and Bob didn‘t have the same expression on his face,   
like the second detective,   
but probably he felt similar.   
Yes, even Jupiter himself wanted that,   
what he saw here just now, was just a dream   
and he did not believe in what he just saw right in front of him.

"Who does that?" Bob said in disgust.  
"I really have no idea, Bob.   
and that scares me more than you can imagine."   
Answer Jupiter.   
He was as deadly pale as his friends.  
They were dealing with someone really dangerous.

A short time later Inspector Cotta arrived in a patrol car   
and looked with disgust at the work of Cuegles.  
Then he turned around and looked at the three boys with a stern look.  
"I hope you are finally clear now,  
that this is not a case for you."

The boys all looked down on the ground   
and just nodded silently.  
The inspector sighed.  
He really didn't want to snarl at the boys,   
after they had to watch this.  
As grown up as the three could sometimes seem,  
they were actually still children,  
or at least teenagers.

"I hereby definitively forbid you to continue working on the case   
and you are officially not allowed to enter the headquarters anymore....".  
The boys interrupted him in the middle of a sentence   
"You can't be serious, Inspector."   
The three boys looked at him in disbelief.

They already knew,  
that the inspector was angry,  
also that they were not allowed to continue working on the case,  
had been clear to them.  
But to forbid them to enter the headquarters!  
That was worse than any punishment they could imagine.

"Calm down again.  
You did not let me finish properly!  
Your headquarters is closed to you for the time being,  
how long forensics needs to examine all the evidence.  
After that they will also... all this... clean everything up.  
After that you may return to your headquarters,  
but from the case, you’re officially suspended.  
If you should think of anything else, please contact me.  
And above all, don't go anywhere alone!  
Do we understand each other?"

The boys nodded again,  
looked better than before in any case.  
Especially in Jupiters eyes, the inspector saw this sparkle,  
what he had seen so often before.

They would not give up the case,  
he already knew that.  
He just hoped that if they found something,  
they would inform him.  
He did not want to admit it necessarily,   
but the three boys had really grown dear to his heart.

It lasted until late in the morning,  
until the forensics team was gone again.  
The headquarters now looked almost the same as before.  
But only almost.  
You could still see the red spots on the dust.

With a heavy heart the boys entered the headquarters   
"I think we know what we are going to do now?" Jupiter asked the group.  
"-we are still working on the case!"  
"-we'll stay out of it!"  
Jupiter and Peter answered simultaneously,  
while Bob had just stayed silent.

He had known what they would both say,  
he himself remained impartial for the time being,  
so that he can later continue the discussion,  
which would now inevitably come,  
could defuse.

"You can't possibly be serious Jupe!  
Didn't you hear what the inspector said?" Peter got upset.  
"Of course I heard it, I'm not deaf!  
But you should know Peter,  
that the inspector already knows us so well by now,  
than that he knew that this little exhortation prevents us from investigating.  
I rather think that the inspector gave us an ok underhand,  
in the hope that we will contact him on in time if things get bad!  
"You do realize that there's a whole other interpretation of this?"  
Jupiter nodded.

Finally Bob also spoke up.  
"Well, what the hell,  
you won't let me and Peter stop you anyway!  
So I'd rather be involved than you having to do everything on your own."  
Now Jupiter looked hopefully over to Peter.  
He felt betrayed by Bob.

"Peter," Justus said in a sweet voice.   
"No!" he answered stubbornly.  
"Oh, come on, Peter." Bob tried this time.  
"N.O!"   
"Peter." they both tried.  
Peter just mumbled.  
"All right," he finally gave back.

Jupiter and Bob grinned at each other.  
They knew their second just too well.

"So Jupe, what's the plan?" Bob asked the first detective.  
"Bob get the old case files,   
I am sure we will find something!  
I suggest you make yourself comfortable.  
It's gonna be a long day!"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"This is all pointless!" Peter said angrily.  
"You just have to have a little patience Peter," Bob replied,  
but who could still understand the anger of his friend.  
It was already late afternoon   
and they had looked through almost every case file so far,   
that they had written in their detective agency’s long time.   
211 cases.  
From the first to the last.  
The headquarters resembled a paper dump.

"We found nothing.  
Absolutely nothing.  
211 files and we found nothing,  
except for Bob's spelling mistakes from the first cases."  
"I was ten.  
"What do you expect?" Bob defended himself.  
"This isn't going to help." Jupiter expressed his frustration.

"We don't have any leads at all,  
except this stupid blueprint,  
a few houses that were smeared with animal blood,  
to be lit afterwards..."  
Peter listened up.  
"I'm sorry, what?  
Say it again."  
"Now the houses that were decorated with the word 'cuegle',  
were all set on fire last night," Jupiter said calmly.  
"And how do you know that?" Peter asked angrily.  
"Well, Inspector Cotta told us yesterday on the phone.  
Weren't you listening?"   
"No, we weren't.  
"May I remind you..,  
you have conducted the conversation alone   
and then told us only the 'most important'."  
Jupiter shrugged his shoulders.  
"Well, it was my fault.  
Now you know."  
"Is there anything else you forgot to tell us?"   
Bob asked annoyed.  
"No, not really."

"JUPITER.  
JUPITER JONES.  
Here are three little girls who want to talk to you and your two friends."   
they heard Aunt Mathilda calling across the junkyard.

"Three little girls?  
Since when do you have admirers Jupe?" said Bob mischievously   
"Don't talk nonsense.  
There are only three little girls who might want something from us."  
Peter came to the realization.  
"You mean..."  
"You mean...  
Our upcoming competitors."

The three boys stormed out of headquarters as fast as they could.  
They recognized the three girls immediately.  
Christie Athur with her dark blond hair,   
Freckles and the glasses.  
Agatha Rampo with her black hair,   
the small scar above her right eyebrow  
and the caramel colored Taint.  
And Meg Doyle with her brown hair,   
green eyes and the worn red leather jacket.

They were just talking to Aunt Mathilda,  
when they saw the three boys.  
They immediately ran to them and Christie took a plastic bag from her backpack.  
She held it in front of the three boys.  
"We've found something out," she said proudly and her friends nodded.  
On closer inspection they saw,  
that there was a piece of skin in the plastic bag.  
The piece shimmered grayish in the midday sun.

"It's a piece of skin from the monster that attacked you and Christie!"  
said Meg and proudly pointed to the bag.  
But Agatha nudged it into the side with her elbow.  
"We had agreed on this after all,  
that it is not a monster but a madman!"  
But Meg only stuck her tongue out.

The three detectives had to smile.  
Yes, they were definitely not unlike them.

"What else did you want to tell us?" Jupiter asked.  
The girls looked at him suspiciously.  
"What makes you think that we wanted to tell you more?" Agatha asked.  
"If you would only give us this piece of skin,  
you could have just given it to Aunt Mathilda."  
The girls looked at Jupiter,  
and Peter and Bob could have sworn  
To be able to see stars twinkle in their eyes.

"In fact, we wanted to tell you something else,  
but you will now get this information in exchange for something else!"  
Meg replied and grinned meanly.  
The three boys just looked at each other in disbelief.  
What could they possibly have,  
what could interest little twelve-year-old girls.  
Agatha recognized the situation immediately and named her price.

"We want one of your famous business cards.  
The others in our class will certainly be jealous,  
when we have a card of the famous three Investigators!"  
"And we also want three pieces of Mrs. Jonas Cherry Pie!"  
Meg added quickly.

The three older boys did not understand the world for a short moment.  
But then they burst out laughing.  
Meg immediately got an angry face.  
"Are you not taking us seriously?  
If you don't, we can investigate on our own."  
Christie calmed her down quickly.  
"I don't believe that they don't take us seriously.  
I rather think that they expected something else than our demands!

"That's one way of looking at it, of course."  
Bob said after he calmed down.  
"I suggest the six of us sit on the porch,  
Eat a little cherry cake  
and you tell us what you found out," Jupiter said.  
"Deal?" Peter asked.  
"Deal!" the girls replied in threes.

No sooner said than done.  
Aunt Mathilda was extremely pleased   
and brought a few bottles of lemonade with the fresh cherry cake.  
The six of them made themselves comfortable and started to talk.  
"So what did you find out?" Jupiter asked.  
So Christie started to tell.

"After you dropped me off at home  
I immediately started talking on the phone with Agatha and Meg  
and the two of them came to my house to spend the night.  
Then we remembered that the Cuegle had touched my backpack,  
which is why there might still be a few tracks on it.  
So we examined it and found this piece of skin.  
Since Agatha's father is a biology professor,  
we immediately gave him the piece of skin to examine."  
Then Agatha started with talking.

"My dad wondered at first and didn't want to do it,  
but a few puppy looks later   
and in the end he did us this favor.  
We had to wait a little bit,  
but the result was still very informative!  
The shred of skin is not a shred of skin at all,  
but simply latex make-up!"  
Now Meg started to tell as last.

"When we found out about this,  
the rest was then quite simple.  
My mom is a make-up artist for the movie   
and that is why we asked her,  
who could make such a blatant disguise.  
And then she gave us the name of a colleague,  
who has recently worked on such a monster!"

Meg grabbed a piece of paper out of her pocket.  
Jupiter wanted to take it already,  
but then she quickly pulled it away again.  
"First the card, then the note!" she said with a mean grin.  
Jupiter grumbled and then searched his pockets just like Bob and Peter.  
"I don't have any more," Bob said, shrugging his shoulders.  
"Me neither." gave Jupiter back.  
"I could have sworn I had another one somewhere,  
maybe it fell out at some point?" said Peter.  
"No card, no note," replied Meg.  
"I'm going to go get one from headquarters." Bob said and stood up.

After he came back with the card, he gave it to the girl,  
who looked at the card with big eyes.  
She pressed the Note into the detective's hand  
and proudly showed the card to her friends.  
They said goodbye and then left,  
but not before they took some more pieces of cake.

"Let me see that slip of paper, Jupe," Bob demanded.  
There was only one name on the note.

" Chayon Gangdo "


End file.
